XP Crashes. No BSOD, no crash dump.
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XP Crashes. No BSOD, no crash dump.
...And absolutely zip in the event viewer. The machine stops, screens go blank & the box reboots and carries on as if nothing had happened. Allied to this, I have seen a few occsasions where the screen has frozen & then carried on with an error message telling me the vpu has recovered from an error.
It's an ATI x1600 & in response, I have updated the driver. I feel the two are linked, but that is just a guess. Any ideas on common causes of this? Google doesn't throw much back & in the absence of a dump or event viewer, it's hard to see what might be doing this.
It's an ATI x1600 & in response, I have updated the driver. I feel the two are linked, but that is just a guess. Any ideas on common causes of this? Google doesn't throw much back & in the absence of a dump or event viewer, it's hard to see what might be doing this.
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It could be an overheating problem also - have you checked the event log in your bios also as this may lead to some clues.
I think GG may be right with the power supply tho - it could be its on its way out - if your ATI card is starting to draw current for the GPU on driver load it could be tripping the power, have you reseated the card ?
I think GG may be right with the power supply tho - it could be its on its way out - if your ATI card is starting to draw current for the GPU on driver load it could be tripping the power, have you reseated the card ?
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Psu is new.
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It's over the last week & the psu has been in for oh, however long it was when I came here & asked advice on swapping it over - a few months back? Since I posted this morning, the system has hung & recovered without rebooting twice & each time it's given the 'vpu has stoppped responding to driver commands' message - so I'm pretty sure it's the graphics card driver.
I'm going to roll back to the old driver & see how it runs. The box is used for email, accounts, general work stuff, so my guess is I've put in a driver that's nicely tuned up for Castle Wolfenstein or whatever & at the same time, not very suitable for Sage & Outlook.
I'm going to roll back to the old driver & see how it runs. The box is used for email, accounts, general work stuff, so my guess is I've put in a driver that's nicely tuned up for Castle Wolfenstein or whatever & at the same time, not very suitable for Sage & Outlook.
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Interrupt Clash
Using the System Tabs applett in Control panel - Check to see if there's a memory or interrupt clash problem - I know modern PC's can share interrupts (like this one ) but you may just have a clash.
Control Panel, System , Hardware , Device manager , View , Resources by connection. then select DMA or Interrupt request.
Sorry, I missed the obvious - Faulty RAM - Run Memtest86 or similar as a fault finder.
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(Pentium 4D, XP3 , 3GB Ram , NVidea Go6800 behave alike, 80 Gb x2 Non raided, DVD broken by CAT III - Re Dog bite , Dog not fed - Dog Irate - Dog displayed Teeth and used them)
Control Panel, System , Hardware , Device manager , View , Resources by connection. then select DMA or Interrupt request.
Sorry, I missed the obvious - Faulty RAM - Run Memtest86 or similar as a fault finder.
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(Pentium 4D, XP3 , 3GB Ram , NVidea Go6800 behave alike, 80 Gb x2 Non raided, DVD broken by CAT III - Re Dog bite , Dog not fed - Dog Irate - Dog displayed Teeth and used them)
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IRQ clash would be unlikely if modern cards are used, I would not rule it out but would expect a BSOD rather than a reset.
I have seen this with a HDD on its way out whereby it hangs for around 3-4 mins then just reboots but that was on Vista on an old old machine of mine which could really have been something else.
Before that I would check also the memory being seated correctly and the contacts not oxidised maybe swap round the memory modules. I can only think that what ever it is (if not power related) is happening at a kernal level and is not being trapped by the OS - so is hardware related in some respect.
If you have an onboard gfx controller on your motherboard and you still suspect the ati card remove it and run off the motherboard for a while, if its only sage etc then you should not really notice but it might give you an indication if the card is faulty.
I have seen this with a HDD on its way out whereby it hangs for around 3-4 mins then just reboots but that was on Vista on an old old machine of mine which could really have been something else.
Before that I would check also the memory being seated correctly and the contacts not oxidised maybe swap round the memory modules. I can only think that what ever it is (if not power related) is happening at a kernal level and is not being trapped by the OS - so is hardware related in some respect.
If you have an onboard gfx controller on your motherboard and you still suspect the ati card remove it and run off the motherboard for a while, if its only sage etc then you should not really notice but it might give you an indication if the card is faulty.
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Voodoo Repair
I've had machines hang, or reboot out of the blue with no apparent cause.
The correct procedure to follow is Voodoo Repair, which involves dancing around the machine while swinging a freshly killed chicken by its neck. Of course, one should wear nothing but body paint and be suitably intoxicated.
On a more serious note:
In my experience, this will solve most problems - likely caused by intermittent contacts, thermal expansion or marginal overheating.
Should the problem persist, try running a memory test.
A "solid" hardware fault is unlikely as this would usually result in a BSOD.
Good luck.
/me resumes fight with a friend's machine which has the OS (xp of course) thoroughly f****d up by a variety of serious malware... Looks like FORMAT C: will be the only suitable remedy...
The correct procedure to follow is Voodoo Repair, which involves dancing around the machine while swinging a freshly killed chicken by its neck. Of course, one should wear nothing but body paint and be suitably intoxicated.
On a more serious note:
- Check the fans and heatsinks. Remove any fluff.
- Reseat all cards. Pull them out until the edge connector is fully out of the socket, and then back in again. Gently.
- Reseat the memory modules as well.
In my experience, this will solve most problems - likely caused by intermittent contacts, thermal expansion or marginal overheating.
Should the problem persist, try running a memory test.
A "solid" hardware fault is unlikely as this would usually result in a BSOD.
Good luck.
/me resumes fight with a friend's machine which has the OS (xp of course) thoroughly f****d up by a variety of serious malware... Looks like FORMAT C: will be the only suitable remedy...
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It sounds like a power fault - either the power supply itself, or the graphics card pulling too much power as a "spike". I'd suspect the latter.
First IA is to unplug the graphics card, blow the dust out of the socket, and clean the connectors (a pencil eraser will do a reasonable job), then reseat it firmly.
First IA is to unplug the graphics card, blow the dust out of the socket, and clean the connectors (a pencil eraser will do a reasonable job), then reseat it firmly.
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Memtest & chkdsk ok. Malware & virus free as far as I can test. all defragged & cc cleaned. Rolled back the driver for the graphics card & no (so far) further incidents. Looked back through the restore points & can only see the updated gpu driver, so hopefully, case closed.
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The correct procedure to follow is Voodoo Repair, which involves dancing around the machine while swinging a freshly killed chicken by its neck. Of course, one should wear nothing but body paint and be suitably intoxicated.
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There is also 'percussive maintenance' I've made a few quid out of people indulging in that. In fact, I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who think hitting a computer will make it behave.
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In the days of the Atari ST it did indeed work.
Most of the chips were socketed, and rode up out of the sockets over time.
Many a £30 service fee was earned by holding the computer level about 6" over a bench and dropping it. Naturally, this took at least 24hrs and was carried out away from customer's gaze.
Most of the chips were socketed, and rode up out of the sockets over time.
Many a £30 service fee was earned by holding the computer level about 6" over a bench and dropping it. Naturally, this took at least 24hrs and was carried out away from customer's gaze.
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al446, of course one has to be extremely serious for in order for the Voodoo Repair procedure to work. It also involves painstaking preparation, such as listening to a Dr. John album while smoking datura stramonium.
Then we have "Percussive Diagnosis", a very useful technique for confirming the presence of loose contacts and bad solder joints. I often use it on musical instrument amps and amplified speaker cabs as these are particularly prone to this type of problems.
Applications range from macroscopic - a kick against the side of the cabinet, when followed by a loud cracking noise from the speaker confirms the existence of the problem - to microscopic where gentle tapping of the circuit board with a screwdriver handle will point out the exact location of said problem.
Then we have "Percussive Diagnosis", a very useful technique for confirming the presence of loose contacts and bad solder joints. I often use it on musical instrument amps and amplified speaker cabs as these are particularly prone to this type of problems.
Applications range from macroscopic - a kick against the side of the cabinet, when followed by a loud cracking noise from the speaker confirms the existence of the problem - to microscopic where gentle tapping of the circuit board with a screwdriver handle will point out the exact location of said problem.
